ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Earlier this year while producing maps for one of our projects, we realized that we could see the results of what we were doing from Board of Directors: space. There within the pixels of google earth, were the outlines Christen Mitchell of the fences that have been build, of the artificial burrows that we installed that now contain translocated seabird chicks, and of Lindsay Young the habitat changes that have occurred in these amazing places. Alex Wegmann It was a profound realization of the visual impact of our work and David Duffy served as a strong motivator when, like you, were struggling with David Johnson how to maintain our efficacy in light of the COVID-19 pandemic . Staff: Adrien Pesque, Daniela Casillas, Dena Spatz, Eric VanderWerf, Erika Dittmar, Gregg Howald, Hollyann Naholowaa, Laura Heartwood, Leilani Fowlke, Lindsay Young, Molly Monahan, Robby Kohley, and Suzanne Pluskat Despite the challenges thrown our way with changing how we work and interact in 2020, we are thankful that we were able to Interns: conduct our work relatively uninterrupted during a challenging Carly Kano, Elaine Freeth, Emily year. In the following pages we summarize our project results for 2020. We could not achieve these goals without our fantastic Reichard, Glenn Meador, Kelsey partners, generous funders, and dedicated staff and volunteers. Greiff, Liliana Tobar, Madison We thank everyone who has been involved in our work the past O’Brein, Sean Paulin, Laura year. Heartwood, Magali Raynaud, Aloha and Mahalo, Sarah Hibbs, Malia McDonald, Claire Atikins, Sophia Lodigiani, Sheila Ringor Lindsay Young Eric VanderWerf Executive Director Director of Science 2 PACIFIC RIM CONSERVATION 2020 Annual Report PACIFIC RIM CONSERVATION YEAR IN REVIEW BIRDS ECOSYSTEMS PEOPLE bird species we worked with or 15 protected in 2020, of which 8 are Full-time & seasonal staff endangered locally, nationally, or 12 2 globally. 18 Acres nests of native Hawaiian birds of habitat restored by removing Partners and funders 281 monitored and protected in 2020 non-native weeds and replacing 18 (139 Laysan Albatross, 18 them with native plants. Wedge-tailed Shearwater, 30 public and professional Oahu Elepaio, 94 Red-tailed presentations Tropicbird) 10 wild birds banded as part of our 110 research in 2020 We translocated 6 species of Hawaiian seabirds in 2020 to create breeding populations that are safe from climate change and non-native predators: Black-footed Albatross, Hawaiian Petrel, Bonin Petrel, Tristram’s Storm-Petrel, and Newell’s 140 Acres Shearwater. media articles of forest bird nesting habitat 7+ In 2020 we published two papers in protected by removal of non- scientific journals, three management and native rats research and translocation interns monitoring plans, and many project reports. 15 2020 Annual Report PACIFIC RIM CONSERVATION 3 FUN FACTS: forms of transportation lbs of fish and squid 5 used to get seabirds from 22 used per day during the Northwestern Hawaiian translocation season Islands to Honolulu: (ATV and golf cart and zodiac on Midway, lbs of seafood total zodiac at Tern Island, 500 miles 1972 used in 2020 by ship from Tern, 45 miles by car from Honolulu to JCNWR). miles hiked for conservation work visits by wild Laysan 1000+ 366 Albatrosses to our social attraction site non-native of returning Bonin Petrels to 1000+ predators trapped in 8 JCNWR bird nesting areas 224 cans of moist bugs and 1800 packets of moist bugs individual moist bugs (crickets, worms, larva) for Laysan 9000 duck diets (mmmm!) examples found of seabird Hours of auditory surveys 450 restoration efforts occurring 22 for Hawai’ian Petrel and worldwide since the 1970s Newell’s Shearwater 4 PACIFIC RIM CONSERVATION 2020 Annual Report NO NET LOSS: James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge Seabird Translocation Project PARTNERS: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge (JCNWR), Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, U.S. Navy, and Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources . Project website: www.islandarks.org Returning translocated Bonin Petrel pair From 2015- 2017, we translocated 51 Laysan Albatross chicks (raised from eggs) from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai (learn more here), where albatross nest close to a runway and are an aircraft collision hazard. A total of 47 Laysan Albatross chicks successfully fledged as a result of this program, and the first birds started returning as adults in 2018; we now have four Laysan Albatrosses regularly visiting the site from previous Moku Manu Offshore islet translocation team translocation cohorts. From 2017-2020, we moved 89 Black-footed Albatross chicks from Midway and Tern Island to JCNWR, of which 85 fledged. In 2018-2020, we moved 181 Bonin Petrel chicks and 112 Tristram’s Storm-Petrel chicks from Midway and Tern Island, of which 180 and 87 fledged, respectively. In 2019 we saw the first individual Bonin Petrel and Tristram’s Storm-Petrel return after just one year, and in 2020 we resighted up to 8 returning Translocated Black-footed Albatross chicks Bonin petrels returning, including male-female pairs in burrows. Wild Laysan Albatross nest inside translocation site In 2020, we moved some of the Tristram’s Storm-Petrels and Bonin Petrels to predator-free offshore islets (Kekepa and Moku Manu) a few days before fledging in hopes that they will imprint on those sites and return to them as adults. We continued to employ three social attraction programs using solar-powered sound systems inside the Returning Laysan Albatross chick with predator fence, one for Black-footed Albatross, one for wild adults Laysan Albatross, and the third for Tristram’s Storm-Petrels and Bonin Petrels combined. The Black-footed Albatross The goals of the No Net Loss initiative are twofold: 1) and Laysan Albatross systems also included decoys. to protect as much seabird nesting habitat in the main This season there were 366 documented visits and one islands as is being lost in the Northwestern Hawaiian nesting attempt by socially attracted LAAL. Wedge-tailed Islands because of the effects of climate change; and 2) Shearwaters have established a colony inside the predator to establish new breeding colonies of vulnerable seabird fence, likely having been attracted by the sound systems, species that are safe from sea level rise and non-native with 30 nests in 2020. The LAAL sound system also plays predators. We do this by building predator exclusion Red-tailed Tropicbird calls, and we observed this species fences, removing invasive predators, and then attracting or flying over the fence on 25 occasions in 2020 with up to translocating birds into these protected areas. We currently three birds present. When this project began in 2016 there are focusing these efforts at James Campbell National were no seabirds of any kind visiting JCNWR. In 2020, two Wildlife Refuge (JCNWR) on Oahu and have begun seabird species nested on the refuge, Laysan Albatross and working on four priority species that are most vulnerable to Wedge-tailed Shearwater, and four others are beginning sea level rise: Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatrosses, to visit regularly and hopefully will begin nesting soon. Bonin Petrel, and Tristram’s Storm Petrel, all of which have We plan to do one more year of translocations with BFAL, a high proportion of their global population nesting in a BOPE, and TRSP, and to continue the social attraction and few locations just a few meters above sea level. monitor the return and nesting of all species. 2020 Annual Report PACIFIC RIM CONSERVATION 5 NIHOKU ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION PROJECT PARTNERS: Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, American Bird Conservancy, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and National Tropical Botanical Garden. Project website: www.nihoku.org declines include habitat degradation, invasive plants, predation by feral cats, pigs, rats, and introduced Barn Owls, and collisions with power lines and structures exacerbated by light attraction. To create a protected colony of these species, we built a 2400 foot-long predator-proof fence enclosing approximately eight acres at Nihoku in late 2014, and we eradicated all mammalian predators shortly afterwards. Since 2015, we have cleared non-native vegetation from 75% of Measuring wing chord of a Holding a Newell’s Shearwater the fenced area (~4 acres) and planted more than Hawaiian Petrel chick chick for feeding 16,000 native plants representing 30 species to Bulwer’s Petrel in begin restoring the habitat. artificial burrow at Nihoku From 2012-2020, potential source colonies of Newell’s Shearwaters and Hawaiian Petrels were located by the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project at locations around Kaua`i. In 2020, 20 Newell’s Shearwaters and 20 Hawaiian Petrels were translocated into the site and all but one of the Hawaiian Petrels fledged. Since translocation N e w e l l ’ s S h e a r w a t e r c h i c k began in 2015, 194 listed seabirds have fledged from this site for a success rate of over 98% for A returning translocated Hawaiian Petrel the project. With 2020 being the final year of translocations for this project, we have now moved onto the post-translocation monitoring phase. In anticipation of adult birds starting to return to the site, intensive monitoring was undertaken with both visual, auditory and report camera surveys every two weeks for the duration of the breeding season. Five translocated Hawaiian petrel adults were found int eh burrows, including two pairs who visited for several weeks during the breeding Created in 2012 and located at Kilauea Point National season. Visual surveys found Hawaiian Petrels Wildlife Refuge on Kauai, the Nihoku Ecosystem transiting the site frequently as well as Newell’s Restoration Project’s mission is to establish the first Shearwaters.